They killed all the buffalo; now they are turning their guns on themselves. Gun violence has become so endemic in America that not a day or week goes past without a crazed gunman turning his gun on innocent people in a supermarket, mall or school. They are making their Wild West and violent actionpacked horror movies into reality shows.
In the latest act of gun violence a 16-year-old black teenager was shot by an 85-year-old man in Kansas City. All Ralph Yarl did was walk up to the wrong house looking for his younger twin brothers at 10 in the night.
Andrew Lister, the homeowner, asked no questions but just took out his gun and let the gun do the talking, shooting Ralph twice in the arm and head. You expect young people to act rashly; not an old man who is supposed to be full of sense and wisdom.
The teenager is lucky to have survived this indiscriminate, racist shooting.
This latest white-on-black violence has again stirred heated debate in America, pitting Gun-Free America against those who say that it’s their god-given right, enshrined in the constitution, to own guns and defend themselves and their families against anyone who threatens them.
President Joe Biden, who has been advocating for tighter gun control laws, has condemned the senseless shooting and has invited the teenager to the White House once he gets better.
His opposite number, former president Donald Trump, a strong proponent of guns for all, is, however, of the view that guns are not the problem in America, but rather the attitude of its people.
He and his party argue that what America needs is not gun control, but more guns to combat violence.
Warped Trump thinking! Yet he is running for president again and I am sure he will use this in his comeback election campaign. Half the population in the US will back this deranged politician and happily vote for him again. A divided nation!
Gun violence exposes the hypocrisy of the American nation. In one hand they carry the Bible, and in the other a gun.
They preach peace and democracy to the world, but also manufacture deadly weapons they supply to nations to kill themselves for profit and world domination. Guns are so easily accessible to the public. They can be bought across the counter like hamburgers.
Those who fawn over America, believing it’s a bastion of peace and democracy, are only fooling themselves. Remove your blinkers and see the true America – a violent, degenerate nation in moral decay.
* T Markandan, Kloof.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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